Are you a meat eater? Or do you think eating animals is unethical? Either way… Are you getting enough protein?

Whether or not you eat meat, poultry and/or fish, how do we know what the best sources of protein are and how can we make sure we get enough each day?

It’s a very controversial topic nowadays, with the media telling us that eating red meat and animals give us too much saturated fat, encouraging us to eat more vegetarian meals and cut down on the animal intake… but in doing so what are they expecting us to replace it with? More grains, cereals and highly processed white carbohydrates! No thanks. What’s the solution?

Good Vs Bad

It’s all about quality and quantity. At the end of the day, there are a number of great protein sources and a number of unfavourable ones but as long as you choose the better ones the majority of the time and avoid the not so good, you’ll be on the right track.

Top 5 protein sources:

1. Grass fed or Organic beef rather than processed mince meat
2. Organic or free range chicken rather than frozen or deep fried chicken
3. Wild Salmon rather than farmed
4. Fresh Tuna Steaks and tinned tuna in olive oil (watch out for soybean oil combos) rather than crabsticks
5. Organic or free range Omega-3 enhanced eggs rather than cage eggs

And for those not eating meat:

1. Organic natural yoghurt rather than sweetened/flavoured “fat-free” yoghurt
2. Tempeh rather than tofu
3. Quinoa rather than green beans or legumes
4. Almonds and Walnuts (and their butters) instead of peanuts and peanut butter

As you can see, there are so many more options for those who consume animals and the sources are much higher in protein content as well.

Why is Protein Important?

Amino acids are the building blocks that make up proteins. We need to eat protein every day because there are a number of essential amino acids that we can’t make in our bodies and so we need to replenish the stores of these 9 amino acids through the foods we eat. Animal proteins contain all of the essential amino acids making it easy to ensure we get all the nutrients we need, whereas vegetable and legume sources of protein are limiting in some amino acids meaning that vegetarians need to complement varieties of foods and eat much higher quantities to get the same amino acid intake… this results in a higher calorie intake if you make sure you’re getting enough protein, which is a common reason for why a vast number of vegetarians are overweight.

Vegetarianism

The term covers a number of different eating methods but it essentially means not eating any animal products. There are variations, such as no dairy and/or no eggs, fish only (also known as a pescatarian), and some processed foods also use animal by-products like gelatin and rennet. Whether people are avoiding animals for health or ethical reasons it’s important they consider where they will get their protein from and ensure that they eat the full spectrum of amino acids… Quinoa does contain all of the 9 amino acids but in much lower amounts than animal foods, so it is encouraged that a mixture of vegetables and high protein vegetarian foods are consumed together at each meal.

How much do we need?

A good guide to follow is 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per kg of your body weight, so for example if you weight 60 kg it is recommended that you eat 90 to 120 grams of protein each day. Just make sure you spread the protein throughout the day so that you can continuously replenish the amino acid pool to repair muscle and cell tissue.

To give you an indication of how much protein you will need to eat, 100 g of most meat, poultry and fish is about 30 % protein, meaning that 30 g of your 100 g portion is protein. On the other hand, grains like quinoa contain only 9 g protein per cup. So as you can see, larger portions are required.

The Bottom Line…

You won’t die from not eating meat but you will be much healthier if you follow the Ignite Way of Eating with a variety of protein sources from lean meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, nuts and seeds rather than large amounts of grains containing small amount of low quality proteins.